Middle East | The Daily Star

  • Hezbollah says it has 'precision missiles'

    Lebanon's Hezbollah yesterday said it had acquired "precision missiles" despite extensive efforts by neighbour and foe Israel to prevent the Shiite movement developing this capability.

  • Assad blames Israel over downing of Russia plane

    President Bashar al-Assad has blamed Israel for the downing of a Russian plane, which was accidentally hit by Syrian anti-aircraft fire during an Israeli missile strike.

  • 'Deputy of IS leader' gets death in Iraq

    An Iraqi court yesterday sentenced a prominent jihadist described as a deputy of Islamic State group leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi to death on terrorism charges. Ismail Alwan Salman al-Ithawi was extradited from Turkey earlier this year having fled Syria as the group's self-proclaimed "caliphate" crumbled.

  • Thousands head home in Idlib

    Thousands of residents of Syria's last major rebel bastion Idlib headed home within 48 hours of a deal being announced to avoid a government offensive to retake the province, a war monitor said yesterday.

  • Day of hope, tensions in Syria

    Syria accidentally shot down a Russian military aircraft, killing all 15 crew members, when its air defences swung into action against an Israeli missile strike, Russian and Israeli forces said yesterday.

  • Israel strike on Gaza border kills two

    Two Palestinians were killed in an Israeli air strike on the Gaza border, the territory's Hamas-run health ministry said early yesterday,

  • MALDIVES ISLAND SCAM: Yameen ‘took gifts from developers’

    The president of the Maldives appeared to accept lavish gifts from a billionaire developer who was later leased two islands in the paradise archipelago without bidding for them, a corruption watchdog alleged yesterday.

  • Palestinian Aid: US cuts another $500m

    The United States has cut additional aid to the Palestinians for programmes supporting conflict resolution with Israelis, an official said Sunday, adding to more than $500 million in other cuts.

  • Sphinx

    Archaeologists discover ancient sphinx in Egypt

    Egypt says archaeologists have discovered a statue of a lion's body and a human head in the southern city of Aswan.

  • Palestinian stabs Israeli to death

    A Palestinian fatally stabbed an Israeli at a shopping mall in the occupied West Bank yesterday before an armed civilian shot and wounded the assailant, Israeli police and medical officials said. The Palestinian was shot by a civilian at the scene and was in Israeli custody, a police spokesman said.

  • Syrians vote in first local polls since 2011

    Syrians in government-controlled areas cast their ballots yesterday in the first local elections there since 2011 as President Bashar al-Assad regained control of much of the country.

  • Israeli missiles hit Damascus airport: report

    An Israeli missile attack targeted the Syrian capital's airport late Saturday, activating air defences which shot down a number of the projectiles, state news agency SANA reported.

  • Clashes, raids kill 32 rebels

    Fresh clashes and air strikes have killed 32 rebels around Yemen's Red Sea city of Hodeida, hospital sources said yesterday, as the UN envoy kept up peace efforts in Sanaa.

  • IS kills 20 US-backed fighters in Syria

    At least 20 fighters from a US-backed force fighting the Islamic State group were killed Friday in an IS ambush in eastern Syria, a war

  • Israeli troops kill boy, 2 men in Gaza protests

    Israeli soldiers killed three Palestinians, one of them an 11-year-old boy, and wounded 248 others taking part on Friday in weekly

  • Gaza protest

    Israeli troops kill 3 in Gaza: Medics

    Israeli soldiers killed three Palestinians, one of them an 11-year-old boy, and wounded 248 others taking part on Friday in weekly protests at the fortified Gaza Strip border, Palestinian medical officials say.

  • Israel reopens its sole crossing with Gaza

    Israel reopened its only crossing for people with the Gaza Strip yesterday, more than a week after shutting it following a destructive

  • Afghan Charlie Chaplin brings joy amid conflict

    Afghanistan's Charlie Chaplin says he has witnessed suicide attacks, explosions and threats from hardline Islamic militant groups, but is determined to waddle and bumble to fulfil the primary goal of his life.

  • Syria War: 38,500 flee Idlib in 2 weeks: UN

    Violence in northwest Syria has displaced more than 38,500 people in less than two weeks amid increasing hostilities and a looming regime assault on the opposition-held Idlib province, the UN said yesterday.

  • A 'living hell' for children

    Yemen's humanitarian situation has worsened rapidly since UN peace talks collapsed endangering hundreds of thousands of lives especially the children.

  • US general urges Gulf Arab unity to counter Iran

    US Central Command chief General Joseph Votel yesterday urged feuding Gulf Arab states to put aside their differences and unite against Iranian efforts to "destabilise" the region.

  • Rivals on war footing

    Turkey has stepped up arms supplies to Syrian rebels to help them stave off an expected offensive by the Syrian army and its Russian and Iran-backed allies in the northwest near the Turkish frontier, rebel sources told Reuters.

  • Century's 'worst' crisis looming

    Violence in northwest Syria has displaced more than 30,000 people this month alone, the United Nations said Monday, warning that a looming assault could create the century's "worst humanitarian catastrophe".

  • 100 killed in Afghan violence

    Nearly 100 people were killed in suicide blasts and Taliban attacks across Afghanistan in the last two days, dampening hopes for peace talks and elections.

  • US closes Palestinian mission in Washington

    US confirms closure of the Palestinian mission in Washington in the latest move against them by President Donald Trump, a Palestinian

  • Gunmen storm HQ of Libya's state oil firm

    Several armed men attacked the headquarters of Libya's National Oil Corporation (NOC) in the capital Tripoli yesterday, killing at least two staff members, a security official said.

  • Egyptian arrested after breakfast with woman

    Saudi Arabian authorities have detained an Egyptian hotel worker who appeared in an online video eating breakfast with a female Saudi colleague, said the labour ministry, which also summoned the hotel owner for questioning.

  • US to take tough stance against ICC

    The United States will adopt an aggressive posture against the International Criminal Court, threatening sanctions against ICC judges if they proceed with an investigation into alleged war crimes committed by Americans in Afghanistan.

  • US-led force launches assault on IS in east

    US-backed fighters yesterday launched a fierce assault against a dwindling pocket of territory held by the Islamic State group in east Syria, a commander and a war monitor told AFP.

  • Violent protests grip Iraq

    Basra airport was targeted by rocket fire yesterday after a night of protests over perceived misrule by Iraq's political elite during which

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